Brooke: They feel like
they've waited their whole lives to get you back, and now just to lose you again
--

Taylor: I'm not falling
off the face of the earth. They're not going to lose me. And I'll see that
they're not going to lose their father, no matter how short a leash you keep on
him.

Brooke: I told you, I
don't want Ridge. I love him as a friend, and as R.J.'s father, but that's all.

Taylor: It never ceases to
amaze me that you actually believe what comes out of your mouth. It won't take
you a year. It won't take a month. If you hadn't just missed Ridge, it wouldn't
even take an hour. Of course you'll be with Ridge. Destiny is probably knocking
at your door right now, as we speak. So go -- go let him in.

***************************************************************

Nick: You cold?

Bridget: I just don't like
it when people break up.

Nick: Yeah.

Bridget: Even if I don't
think they should have been together in the first place.

Nick: Well, your mom
thinks they can somehow salvage this.

Bridget: What? Mom wants
Ridge with Taylor?

Nick: Because of the kids
-- she's thinking of the kids.

Bridget: God, she loves
those kids so much. Could you tell what she was thinking about --

Nick: Forrester? I don't
really think she was thinking about him.

Bridget: Do you think it
would be good for her if she got back together with Ridge?

Nick: Well, I wouldn't
like it. I don't like the way he treats her.

Bridget: I don't think
that that would happen again, you know? She's so different now.

Nick: How is she
different?

Bridget: She respects
herself a lot more. And she stands up for herself. She relies a lot more on her
own abilities, and a lot less on people that aren't reliable.

Nick: But I think that was
always there, don't you? That strength inside of her.

Bridget: Maybe, but I
think it took someone really seeing it in her first before she could really see
it in herself. You did that for her, you know. And you've done it for me, too.
It's just something about the way you love. As sorry as I am for Taylor and
those kids, I think this time might be a real chance for mom and Ridge.

****************************************************

Stephanie: You look tired.

Ridge: It hasn't been the
easiest of days.

Stephanie: Every marriage
has days like that.

Ridge: It's over between
me and Taylor.

Stephanie: Honey, you feel
betrayed because of James --

Ridge: No, Mother. When I
lost her to that bullet, I lost who I needed to be -- her husband. But you
didn't understand that. If you had, you would've known that trying to trick me
into being that man again just wasn't going to work.

Stephanie: I see. You need
to blame someone for this mess, so you want to blame me.

Ridge: When did you stop
being my mother?

Stephanie: Never. Not for
a minute.

Ridge: When did my
happiness stop being more important to you than your happiness at my expense?
Because that's what you did in that hospital bed, with all that fake death
stuff.

Stephanie: I have
apologized for that. I believed I was doing what was best for everyone.

Ridge: Why don't you try
being my mother now, and letting it go? I don't have that many more chances to
be happy, Mother.

Stephanie: Honey, that's
all I've ever wanted for you.

Ridge: I was happy with
Brooke, you knew that. But you just couldn't stand it. You couldn't stand it.

*********************************************************

Brooke: I understand
you're upset. But I don't appreciate being called a liar.

Taylor: I never called you
a liar. You're not that creative.

Brooke: All right.
Obviously it was a mistake to come here.

Taylor: What did you
think, Iwas going to thank you for your concern? A psych 101 dropout could read
this situation. You paint yourself as the heroine instead of the home wrecker
that you are, so that when Ridge throws you over his shoulder, you can pretend
you never saw it coming.

Brooke: If I wanted Ridge
back, I would have had him by now.

Taylor: That's more like
it. But you don't like that reputation as the Forrester family whore anymore, do
you? So now, when you make a grab for one of our men, you just pretend it's
something else.

Brooke: You're calling me
a whore?

Taylor: Like concern for
my children, for instance. And you get to go home looking innocent.

Brooke: Was that the beam
that fell? Or was it that one? Oh, it must have been that one. It looks newer.
And where, exactly, was it? Where you and James, you know, did it? Was it the
couch, the floor?

Taylor: You wouldn't have
any concept of what happened between James and me.

Brooke: Yeah. And when I
sleep with a man, I'm a whore -- but when you do, it's a beautiful sacrifice.

Taylor: You don't just
sleep with a man, you sleep with a gene pool. First the father, then the son,
then the brother, then the half-brother -- and then you start through the whole
line-up again. You can't tell me most normal people wouldn't find that
revolting. Psychiatry hasn't even come up with a name for your disorder.

Brooke: Well, there's
always been one for yours -- conceited bitch.

***********************************************

Bridget: How vocal are you
going to be if mom takes Ridge back?

Nick: If she takes him
back? I don't think she's going to take him back.

Bridget: Well, just --
what if she does?

Nick: Bridget, this guy
walked out on her and her kids without even batting an eye. He tried to keep her
on the hook while he was still married to somebody else. Now, this guy's got the
ego of a whale and the attention span of a goldfish.

Bridget: I know. It's
pretty hard to explain why mom and Ridge work. It's like they speak this
little-known dialect that nobody else understands, but they get each other
perfectly. Just do me a favor, and don't be too hard on her, okay? If it comes
down to that --

Brooke: I came here for
Thomas, Steffy and Phoebe. I could care less what happens to you, but I was a
mother to those children.

Taylor: And I thanked you
for that.

Brooke: And then you
kicked me out of my own home, and you looked the other way when Stephanie tried
to bury me.

Taylor: After you stole
her husband -- again! This victimization myth ideology of yours is really
something. You're outraged at any obstacle in your quest for unlimited
self-gratification.

Brooke: The way you relate
to people -- it's like you look at everybody as a specimen under a glass case.

Taylor: You know, you're
right. My clinical training, my personal beliefs, all of that seems to get in
the way of my honest gut feeling -- namely, my common sense wisdom that some
people are just no damn good. And you're one of them.

Brooke: I never knew you
had so much ugliness in you. But I guess that's the secret to your success --
nobody really knows you.

Taylor: Well, everybody
knows you. There isn't a thought in your head you don't utter, not an impulse
you don't act out on -- all the while blaming some cosmic force, your destiny,
that you can't resist. Well, I guess destiny's got you in a bind this time,
doesn't it? Who's it going to be? Is it going to be Ridge? Is it going to be
Nick?

Brooke: I've made a life
for myself, and for my children without them or any man.

Taylor: Like a cow pie,
your life exists of men buzzing around you like flies. Wow, you must really be
proud of yourself, being able to congratulate yourself that you haven't slept
with your daughter's husband -- yet! Do you really think it's normal for any
healthy woman to be attracted to her own son-in-law? And then you come here, and
you expect me to believe you're not interested in Ridge? That this is all for
the sake of my children, in whom you have shown absolutely no interest in since
the day you packed your little bags and left the house in tears. You want to see
me cry? Is that what brought you all the way here, Brooke? I hope I made it
worth the trip.

************************************************

Stephanie: You thought you
were happy with Brooke -- but look what she's done to Eric.

Ridge: Look what I've done
to her.

Stephanie: Ridge, how many
times have you told me -- how many times have you said to me that Taylor is the
love of your life? Yes, your life with her was violently and cruelly
interrupted, and you certainly have every right in this world to be angry --

Ridge: Mother -- I'm in
love with Brooke. I always have been.

Stephanie: No. You have
discovered that your wife is an imperfect and complex human being, just like the
rest of us. She's fallen off of her pedestal. And being with someone safe and
simple-minded sounds --

Ridge: Mother, would you
just stop and listen to me?

Stephanie: All right.

Ridge: I'm asking Brooke
to marry me, and I think she will.

Stephanie: Ridge, this is
not how the world works. You don't end a marriage one day and then propose to
someone the next.

Ridge: My relationship
with Brooke was cruelly interrupted -- I think we both know why.

Stephanie: She is no more
free to give herself to you than she was to marry Eric. Look, this dance that
she's doing with Nick, I don't pretend to understand it. But it is plainly not
over.

Ridge: She never would
have turned to Nick if I hadn't walked away from her. Decades, Mother -- for
decades, Brooke and I have been waiting for our moment -- it's now.

Stephanie: For God's
sakes, give yourself at least some time to grieve about this. I'm listening to
you, I am. I'm listening.

Ridge: I'm grieving about
what this has done to my kids, what this has done to Taylor. I'm grieving about
a marriage that never should have been. I'm grieving because I gave up my
happiness in favor of yours. I can't change you, Mother. I'm not even going to
try. You feel what you want about Brooke, but know this -- she is going to be my
wife, and you're going to have to treat her the way a mother treats her son's
wife -- with respect and consideration. Do you understand me? Or if hating
Brooke is more important than my happiness to you, tell me right now.

Stephanie: Ridge, please
--

Ridge: If you force me to
choose between the two of you, Mother, I don't think you're going to like the
result.

*************************************************************

Brooke: I used to think
you were good.

Taylor: I'm really done
with caring what you think about me.

Brooke: I never blamed you
for the things that Stephanie said and did. I never even blamed you for being
the one to benefit from them. I always thought you were too good and too nice to
stand up to her. But, no -- you're the same. You're just like her.

Taylor: I think there's a
lot about Stephanie to admire.

Brooke: Her lofty moral
principles, while sneaking around and lying behind everybody's back -- her
viciousness when you're found out -- the complete lack of respect when somebody
doesn't measure up to your standards -- you and Stephanie, you felt justified in
everything that you did to me. I counted for nothing, my marriage counted for
nothing.

Taylor: Well, I may have
shortcomings, but at least I have standards.

Brooke: Oh, my God.
Stephanie said the exact same thing. You're going to end up old, bitter and
alone, just like Stephanie.

Taylor: You know what? The
fact is, the reason I'm alone is because of you -- you hanging around the
fringes of my marriage -- you and your never-ending train of crisis, needing
some man to help you sort it out -- you hanging this bait over Ridge with little
R.J.

Brooke: You're the only
one to blame for the death of your deathbed marriage. Your vows were so fake. As
fake as Stephanie's heart attack. But you hung on for dear life, plastering on
that perfect smile, pretending to be the perfect little wife. You know what,
Taylor? Men don't like perfect. They like assurance, warmth, trust, a little
fun. Perfect is dead. You were more competition in the grave than you were when
you popped out of it. And you wonder why ridge missed me. Which, of course, you
punished him for, too.

Taylor: Well, then go,
Brooke. I can't make him happy. So go, give him your warmth. Give him your
comfort. Make him forget that you've given it to every man you've known. Here,
you can even save him a trip to the jeweler's. How easy can I make this for you?
The ring that was mine, the name that was mine, the last laugh on Stephanie --
everything that you've ever wanted, dropped right in your lap. And are you too
proud to take it? I don't think so. Well, congratulations, Brooke. Go -- go for
it! All those years of flirting, and begging, and wiggling and jiggling -- it's
all finally paid off. So take Ridge, and score one for the whores of the world.
And for the rest of us -- God help us.